I Win
by Gerri
Summary: Short story. An alternate ending to the chapter of PoA titled The Quidditch Final.


_Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize from the books isn't mine. Pity though, because if I owned Draco Malfoy, he wouldn't be playing second fiddle to Potter all the time._

_A/N: This is simply an alternate ending to the chapter in POA entitled "The Quidditch Final". The first sentence is in italics because it is a direct quote from the book._

I Win

_Harry urged the Firebolt downwards, but Malfoy was miles ahead._

The Snitch was there, hovering just above the ground, and suddenly, it shot, vertically, straight up into the air.

Draco Malfoy tore straight after it, while Harry stopped his descent and pulling his broom upwards.

He reached the enchanted ball before Draco did, stretching out his hand-

And Draco rammed into him from the side, _hard_.

Harry was momentarily thrown before he stabilised himself, scowled, and shoved Draco back.

All this while, the Snitch continued its maddening dance in front of both Seekers, zipping up and down and tightening circles.

Harry reached out again-

Draco roughly elbowed his arm out of the way-

"It's _mine_, Potter! _I_ saw it first!"

This, accompanied by another hard shove.

"You'll have to _catch_ it before it's _yours_, Malfoy!" he shoved the Slytherin back.

The Snitch dove and made for the other end of the pitch.

Both Seekers turned back the way they'd come-

Narrowly missing Montague and Warrington as they flew by overhead, handling the Quaffle-

_'No- Don't let Slytherin score again, please!'_ Harry prayed, even as he focussed his attention on the elusive, winged golden ball.

Their elbows and shoulders rammed repeatedly into each other, each Seeker determined to knock the other off-course-

_WHACK!_

Fred Weasley sent a Bludger at Draco-

The smaller boy ducked-

Reached out for the Snitch-

Harry knocked his arm out of the way-

"You're not getting it, Malfoy!"

And then, right in the middle of the pitch, the Snitch made another sharp dive-

Dropping straight down, out of the air-

"NO!" both Seekers yelled, pelting after it-

Draco made another attempt-

Harry foiled it, himself making a grab for the golden ball-

The ground rushed up at them-

They took little notice, entirely focussed on the Snitch.

They caught up with it-

More shoving-

Both their hands blocking-

Difficult to see-

Each making frantic attempts to catch it, to win-

Flurry of arms, hands and fingers-

Hard to see-

And the ground-

Suddenly two feet away-

_'Oh **no**-'_ Harry thought as he made another wild grab-

Both trying to catch it-

_'Can't **see** it!!'_

Each of them made one last desperate snatch-

And Harry closed his eyes as both of them ploughed into the ground.

A dry crunching sound as his leg broke-

Another sick, wet "pop"; no doubt some dislocated joint-

Both Seekers rolled over and over, flopping and bouncing like limp rag dolls that had been thrown out the window when their owners tired of them.

The spectators gasped in shock, winced as they empathised with the pain that both boys had to be feeling and instinctively rose to their feet in worry.

The two boys' brooms flipped away, bouncing sharply off the ground and spinning around in mid-air, landing far apart, whereas the Seekers finally came to rest only a mere three metres from each other.

Harry stared up at the sky.

The Snitch had vanished again.

The other players had halted in their game, anxiously watching their team-mates, lying on the ground.

Taking shallow, rapid breaths, Harry summoned up the energy to slowly roll onto his side, his fists clenching as he did so.

Metres away, Draco did the same; their gazes then met.

Harry noted that the other boy's left arm was hanging limply from its socket.

_'So it was his arm that dislocated, then,'_ he thought tiredly, remembering the "pop" that he'd heard when they crashed into the ground.

They continued to glare at each other for a while, each still trying to get his breath back-

Until a smirk suddenly broke out across Draco's face and he carefully pushed himself into a sitting position-

And raised his uninjured arm-

The whole pitch fell silent.

Harry stared.

_'No. **No**…'_

Draco Malfoy was holding the Snitch up for everyone to see.

The Slytherin area of the stands burst into loud, raucous cheers. The Slytherin players laughed as they landed and ran towards Draco.

Lee Jordan's voice sounded numb as he announced: "Draco Malfoy has caught the Snitch…Slytherin…wins."

And Draco continued to smirk at Harry's disbelieving stare.

"I win, Potter," he told the other boy. "_I win_."

End


End file.
